Irrigation plays a major role in crop production

Monday

Oct 1, 2012 at 5:00 AM

Farmers who had irrigation units in place during the summer drought in St. Joseph County are reaping the benefits today.Mike Schrock, owner of Advanced Farm Supply in Burr Oak, said the difference between a farmer with irrigation pivots in use and one without is about 200 bushels of corn an acre.

Terry Katz

Farmers who had irrigation units in place during the summer drought in St. Joseph County are reaping the benefits today.Mike Schrock, owner of Advanced Farm Supply in Burr Oak, said the difference between a farmer with irrigation pivots in use and one without is about 200 bushels of corn an acre.“With the price of corn these days, that’s a lot of corn,” he said.Schrock sells Reinke irrigation units. He said his business has grown tremendously in recent years. In a 12-month period, he sells about 118 units. He has opened supply stores in Jonesville and Edgerton, Ohio. In Burr Oak, he is adding a 120 by 80-foot pole building for parts.Schrock said this year’s drought has more farmers thinking about investing in pivots.“Farmers always know they should have irrigation,” he said. “My dad bought his first unit in 1978. I remember when I asked him how he liked it, he said he wished he had bought one 10 years earlier.”“Banks like farmers who have irrigation pivots,” Schrock said. “Farmers can not only double their yield, but show a steady income.”The average cost of today’s irrigation system can be anywhere from $55,000 to $120,000. The first five years are usually trouble-free, Schrock said. While pivots appear to look the same as they did 20 years ago, there are big changes in technology.Today, a farmer doesn’t have to leave the house to operate his irrigation unit if he has the right technology.“He can use his cell phone or computer at home to start it,” he said. “By using G.P.S., a farmer can actually move his pivot in the field without being there.”Schrock said this technology is so new that only a few farmers have it. He said it takes field mapping to order a new irrigation unit. Every unit must be designed for a specific field and terrain. “I know farmers who have over 100 irrigation units,” he said.Another change is how the water is used. In older units, Schrock said the spray shot upward. Newer units have a more gentle flow downward that doesn’t take as much water pressure.“The new units have sprinklers that give bigger droplets and are way more efficient,” he said.The last severe drought in St. Joseph County was in 1988.Schrock said one problem many farmers were not able to solve with irrigation this year was the heat. “The heat was so intense that it affected the pollination of corn,” he said. Soybeans did better than corn in the drought. Schrock said that while irrigation plays a major role in field crops, “nothing beats a timely rain that only Mother Nature can give.”